Senior Research Manager - Innovation & Scale
About The Position
The Senior Research Manager will lead Netflix’s newly formed Innovation & Scale pod within the Content, Studio, and Games Consumer Insights team. The pod brings together senior individual contributors across research, data science, and analytics engineering to pioneer new ways of understanding audiences and turn proven approaches into durable, scaled programs. Its portfolio includes Netflix Preview Club, viewership analysis for major titles, and broad audience understanding. The role sets the pod’s vision and roadmap, balancing experimentation with scaling successful approaches. It owns the pipeline from incubation through scale, including piloting research programs, trackers, and AI-assisted tools, and deciding when to invest in, consolidate, reinvent, or sunset existing solutions. The manager integrates findings from screenings, tracking, surveys, and behavioral data into a unified understanding of audiences, and develops global solutions that also address local market needs. The manager partners across Consumer Insights and consults with Content, Finance & Strategy, Marketing, Data Science, Product, and regional teams to deliver actionable insights for Netflix’s global member base. They help the team communicate its findings across the company, including to senior leadership. The role calls for a passionate entertainment fan with extensive mixed-methods experience, a record of taking methods or tools from prototype to broad adoption, and sound judgment in applying AI and automation to research.
Requirements
- Proven track record leading teams that innovate and scale, including taking a new method or tool from prototype to broad adoption.
- Experience leading through other leaders or senior individual contributors.
- Fluency with AI and automation in research, with good judgment about where they add rigor versus risk.
- 10 or more years of mixed-methods experience.
- Data science and quantitative research experience; a combination of both is required.
- Research experience in entertainment (such as TV, film, streaming, short form, or gaming), technology, and/or social media.
- Analytical mindset and ability to find patterns in data while balancing rigor with pragmatism and actionability.
- Strong communication and storytelling skills, including turning data into actionable insights for audiences across departments and seniority levels.
- Ability to collaborate and build strong relationships with Consumer Insights peers and business partners.
- Independent, innovative, action-oriented problem-solving, with a focus on long-term solutions and impact at scale.
- Ability to select approaches suited to different problems rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach.
- Comfort with ambiguity, change, and considering multiple perspectives.
- Strong prioritization and time-management skills for both strategic and day-to-day work.
- Passion for entertainment.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with qualitative research.
- International research experience.
- Research experience with live programming, sports, games, user-generated content, interactive content, VR, or other non-traditional content types.
- An advanced degree in research, social sciences, statistics, or a related field.
Responsibilities
- Set the vision and roadmap for Innovation & Scale, balancing new-method experimentation with scaling proven approaches.
- Lead Researchers, Data Scientists, and Analytics Engineers, empowering senior individual contributors and drawing on the complementary strengths of their disciplines.
- Own the end-to-end pipeline from incubation to scale, including piloting trackers, research programs, and AI-assisted tools and sunsetting approaches that no longer deliver.
- Assess scaled solutions and determine where to invest, consolidate, or reinvent.
- Integrate findings across screenings, tracking, surveys, and behavioral data into a unified view of audience understanding.
- Identify forward-looking business opportunities and develop innovative methodologies proactively.
- Partner with Consumer Insights peers across Series, Film, Entertainment Ecosystem, Games, and Studio to ensure scaled solutions meet their needs.
- Consult with Content, Finance & Strategy, Marketing, Data Science, Product, and Regional Consumer Insights partners to deliver actionable insights for a global audience.
- Drive scaled solutions that balance global perspectives with local market needs.
- Help the team socialize its work across the company so insights are memorable and actionable, including for senior leadership.
- Shape a team identity while bringing together groups with different working styles.
Benefits
- Health plans
- Mental health support
- 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
- Stock option program
- Disability programs
- Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts
- Family-forming benefits
- Life and Serious Injury Benefits
- Paid leave of absence programs
- Full-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time off.
- Full-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time off.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
